Audio Transcript:

Welcome to Missions on Point, the Propempo perspective on church and missions. Come on in to episode 214 of Missions on Point. We're in a series on missionary training called From Here to There. This series will be a precursor to a book, Here to There: How to Get to Your Mission Field, in its third edition that's been used widely by the Cross conferences and other large student missionary conferences, as well as many churches and missions events. We expect the third edition to come out on Amazon before the end of the year. Though I'm speaking to missionary candidates, or those that believe that God is leading them to become missionaries, this podcast series is valuable for anyone who has an interest in seeing those missionary candidates getting to the field, family, friends, fellow church members, fellow students, mission agency mobilizers. This series and the book to follow could be used as a primer for anyone going to the mission field.

This episode will deal with get a sending church. Very soon after you tell your friends and your family of your interests and inclination and compulsion to go to the mission field, you need to let your church leaders know that you want to be sent over there to your mission field. Unfortunately, many students take local church involvement quite lightly. They are likely to run into two big temptations that are common for college students. One is just to lay out, literally just sleep in on Sunday morning and not go to church. The other one is to go to quote, unquote, "A campus church." And I'll tell you right now, biblically, that doesn't fit what a church is supposed to be. Yes, it can be great worship and great fellowship among your peers, but it's not really a church if it doesn't have all the elements of the New Testament Church. And as we talk about getting ascending church, that campus fellowship is not going to be it.

If you're trapped in one of those two temptations, stop it. Go get ascending church. If you want to go deeper, I can't recommend highly enough a new book called the same name as this podcast, Missions on Point. The subtitle is The Local Church at the Heart of Ecclesiology and Missiology, and it's available on Amazon. Missions on Point, the book, is the only biblical apologetic for the centrality of the local church that I know of. It is a compelling biblical argument that you need to be involved in a local church and be sent by a local church to become a missionary. So before leaving for the field, you need to demonstrate a healthy connection and approval of your local church that's willing to send you. Your church and missions agency should require it.

Your likelihood of surviving and thriving on the field are directly correlated to a healthy church that is proactively helping you in prayer and finances and all the elements of getting you to the field and keeping you there. So the very next step on your pathway to become a missionary from where you are now, from here to there to your mission field, is to bring your local church into the picture. Many missionary candidates, young or old, with a surging eagerness to hurry to the field short circuit or neglect involving their home sending church early in the process. And if you're away from your home church during your college years, it presents some other challenges. However, having a strong local sending church as the core of your support team is essential for your long-term effectiveness.

So let me ask some questions measuring the health of your relationship with your current home sending church, or maybe you need to find one. We'll deal with that later. How would you answer these questions?

1. Number one, are you an active member in a local church at all?
2. Number two, is missions an evident passion and purpose of your home church? Growing a mission's passion may need some help from you or outside resources.
3. Number three, what kind of relationship do you have with your church leadership? Do your missions and pastoral leadership in the church even know who you are?
4. Number four, have you had an active role in ministry and in through your local church? That means probably you've had some ministry even in high school, and you've been at work in evangelizing and discipling your peers at least, maybe leading a small group Bible study for your youth group.
5. Number five, has your church tracked your spiritual health and maturity while you've been away at college or university? To whom are you spiritually accountable in your church? Would it be a small group leader or maybe a staff pastor, an older mentor friend, a ministry group leader? Ask your home church who might serve as such a key contact for you while you finish college.
6. Number six, how long has your church known of your interest in missions? Is this a brand new thing or has it been around for a while? Certainly, you should let them in on it. So this goes to the prior concept. What if you or your family have not been active members of a good Bible-teaching, missions-minded local church? This must now become one of your highest priorities.

How do you find a local church capable of sending you well? Well, here's some guidelines.

1. Number one, are you in agreement with the church's doctrinal stance? You actually need to carefully read the doctrinal statement or statement of faith of your present or prospective sending church.Pray for understanding. Get some help from a mature believer in discerning the strength and accuracy of the doctrinal statement. Here are a few key elements you should look for clarity on in those kinds of documents. The sovereignty and deity of God in three persons. The inspiration, inerrancy, and sufficiency of the scripture as the final authority. The perfect life, substitutionary death, and resurrection of the Lord Jesus Christ in the place of sinners. The depravity and utter inability of man to merit or cause his own salvation apart from the intervention of God's grace and mercy in salvation through repentance and faith in Christ alone. The glory of God as the ultimate purpose of all that God does.
2. You should also seek to answer major question number two, a follow-up question. How important is missions in this church? If possible, become a part of a church that already loves missions and has a reputation as a missionary-sending church.How visible is missions in its sermons, in its literature, in its lobby and worship center? Ask questions. Find out how do they do missions? Who leads missions? Ask for a copy of any missions policy or strategy that they might have. Find out who the church supports and where those people serve. Does the church actually have a written plan for developing and training homegrown missionaries like you? Beyond those two foundational elements of doctrine and missions, there are other characteristics of a strong missions-minded church.

Here's a list of some descriptors that might describe a strong missions-minded church.

1. Number one, the church possesses a scriptural understanding of God's purpose in this world, that He be glorified and worshiped throughout the earth in every language. And the role of the local church in fulfilling God's purposes.
2. Number two, the pastor and church leaders provide missions vision in the church working with all the ministry staff and ministries to inculcate a passion for global evangelization.
3. Number three, church members realize their essential roles in the great commission and exercise world Christian priorities in fulfilling His global purpose.
4. Number four, global missions has been integrated into the culture of the church in such a way that it has become part of the DNA identity of the church. In other words, everyone in the church and those visiting the church would know right away that this is a missions-minded church.
5. Number five, the church's mission strategy includes a balance strategy for both local and global aspects of its missions outreach. This is an Achilles heel situation for many modern churches who say that they're missional, but what they really mean is they believe in outreach and evangelism locally in their community and they don't extend that to global aspects of the mission outreach.
6. Number six, the church has some kind of missions leadership group. They may be called a committee, a board, or a team to facilitate the mobilization and involvement of the whole congregation in the church's mission strategy and outreach.
7. Number seven, the church systematically and regularly prays for and holistically supports its supported ministries and missionaries.
8. Number eight, short-term missions are vibrant parts, both of discipling its members as world Christians and making win-win-win contributions to field ministries, missionaries, and their target population. I would add that every short-term missions project or team or trip has a spiritual component to it, not just physical help.
9. Number nine, the church has a vision to identify, train, and send missionary candidates from the congregation in alignment with the church's chosen strategy or strategies.
10. Number 10, the church has developed and implemented a written missions policy, which includes strategy for involvement, care for their missionaries, and other guidelines.
11. Number 11, the church invests a significant amount of its funds in world missions.
12. Number 12, the church hosts a regular world missions event celebrating what God is doing in and through the church globally.
13. And number 13, missions is frequently communicated through all the ministries of the church in worship, prayer, preaching, teaching, education, training, discipleship, small groups, youth, Sunday school, mens and ladies groups, and so on throughout the year.

Get some good counsel from mature Christian friends about your choice of a local church. This is a really important decision to be made for sound biblical reasons rather than personal preferences or consumer-oriented reasons. Great churches feature sound teaching, a good shepherding atmosphere, gracious and loving fellowship, and a commitment to no love and proclaim the gospel. Check out Mark Dever's book Nine Marks of a Healthy Church. Even over and above those marks of a healthy missions-minded church, there are some suggested things that would indicate a good sending church, and man, that's what you want if at all possible.

1. Number one, the sending church has developed clear expectations and a process or pathway for becoming a missionary sent from the church.
2. Number two, the sending church understands and affirms the obligation of the church to guide and manage the development of their missionary in issues such as character, ministry competency, including language and cultural acquisition and adjustment, doctrinal integrity, and direction or allocation on the field, like which field do you go to and which part of the field? And why do you do that? What is the purpose and end goal for doing that?
3. Number three, in addition to the elders' general oversight, the sending church provides a mentor and or a Barnabas team, a group of people who advocate and care for a particular missionary or missionary family.
4. Number four, the sending church confirms a mutually acceptable, comprehensive financial support schedule and helps the missionary raise those funds through accountability, advocacy, and active assistance.
5. Number five, the sending church commits to appropriate communication and shepherding of their sent missionary on the field.
6. Number six, the sending church intelligently interacts with ministry decisions and strategy on the field as a full partner with the agency and part of the team, so to speak.
7. Number seven, the sending church proactively and annually evaluates the health, ministry, and working relationships of the field missionary and their family if applicable.

No church is perfect. It will be tempting to try to get to the field quicker by taking shortcuts, leaving a substantial sending church relationship in the dust. Don't do it. As the African proverb says, "If you want to travel fast, travel alone. If you want to travel far, travel together." This is applicable to a sending church relationship. Your impact on the field will be deeper and longer with a great sending church behind you. It may even mean you getting involved in helping your church become the sending church it needs to be.

It's worth the hard work. With some patience and passion, you can be instrumental in helping your church become your most important long-term asset in reaching your unreached people group over there. So think about it, pray about it. What should you do right now to get better connected to a good sending church? And how can you help your church become that good sending church?

1. Again, I would recommend that your leaders read the Missions on Point book. That would help them a lot. There are a lot of practical things that they can do from the book that would help them become a great sending church.
2. Number two, who do you know that might be an advocate for your missionary candidacy with your church? Is there a friend or a church leader that you're especially connected with that could help you and assist you in making your case?
3. Number three, what steps can you take soon that would cultivate prayer from your church for your mission's path from here where you are to there on your mission field where you want to go?

Stay tuned and tell your friends about this series, Here to There, on the Missions on Point podcast. Thanks for joining us today on Missions on Point. We trust that you'll find more help and resources on our websites at propempo.com and missioserve.org. We are so thankful for those who support us, enabling us to produce this podcast. Now to God be glory in the church and in Christ Jesus forever and ever. Amen.